My name is Ahmad Alomari; I’m one of the interventional radiologists at Children’s. My main clinical and academic interest is managing children with vascular anomalies. This interest is greatly enriched by my work with the Vascular Anomalies Center, as a clinician and co-director.

How did you get interested in this pediatric population?
I started as a diagnostic pediatric radiology fellow here in 2002, but my background training was interventional radiology. This kind of training you get at Children’s Hospital, especially the training in managing vascular anomalies, doesn’t really exist anywhere else. The volume of patients, the severity of the disorders and the challenges to treat many of them are certainly unparalleled and unique to this place. My strongest motivation is to decipher complex facets of disease and intervene against it. Though my background started in diagnostic radiology, I typically do not practice the diagnostic part separate from potential interventions. I just wanted to enhance my pediatric diagnostic skills then move on to do pediatric interventional training. Once I started seeing these challenging patients, I applied immediately to the fellowship in pediatric interventions. In addition, the bulk of the elective work during that year was in pediatric interventions; specifically treating kids with vascular anomalies. So that was a very fortunate timing; I came here to do one year of training and then leave back to my home country, Jordan but I ended up doing two, and then I stayed on the staff.

What are some of the challenges of working with this population?
Many of these anomalies are rare; there is no well-described methodology for treating them. One needs to improvise very often and come up with solutions. Some of these solutions include using tools that are not really designed for this particular indication. There aren’t many medical products that are made or approved to treat these diseases. Dealing with patients who have been through a lot of suffering is a major force to innovate or improvise to create a positive experience for the patient. One needs to be patient because the response is not immediate. Families have to go through these phases where they have to endure all these issues: insurance, waiting for our busy schedules, coming to the hospital, going under anesthesia, having the entire day just waiting for the child to come out, recovery, etc. The recovery can be lengthy and occasionally painful. During that time, patients and families need information about what to expect and encouragement; It’ll get better, it’ll get better. The harder job is how to make it work for every one!

What are some of the rewards of working with this population?
No doubt that the positive outcome and the improvement in the quality of life of our patients are the principal motivations. What keeps one going is positive feedback following treatment. Seeing patients improving, renewing their hope and asking for more treatment for other areas or issues can be very rewarding. A sick child is actually a sick family and you often see the whole family is feeling better! This keeps one going to work even harder to come up with new ideas, new treatments, new methods to reduce risk, etc.